Dennis Román | Project Portfolio

Robotics Hackathon (Non-CFD)

RoboTech: Pipe Builder

36-hour robotics hackathon build: a teleoperated robot that climbs pipe stacks, places new segments, and repeats the cycle.

Concise summary for portfolio; details available on request.

Onshape CADMechanical Design3D PrintingRapid PrototypingAssembly & Integration
RoboTech updated build view 1

Updated prototype configuration with climbing module and integrated arm.

Snapshot

  • Focus: Mechanical design, fabrication, and integration
  • Date: January 2026
  • Duration: 36 hours
  • Team: Dennis Román, Noah Veron, Krish Shajpaul, Nayan Ramam
  • Outcome: 2nd place in teleoperated track

This page reflects my primary contribution area: mechanical architecture, rapid part design, print-ready iteration, and physical integration.

Mission and concept

  • Hackathon challenge: robot concept for future off-planet settlement support.
  • Proposed system: clamp to an existing pipe, grab new segments, place, then climb and repeat.
  • Why this concept: modular utility networks + repeatable teleop sequence under tight time constraints.

What I owned (mechanical)

  • Structural concept for the climbing/placement mechanism.
  • Fast CAD iteration to maintain manufacturable geometry under deadline pressure.
  • Print-ready part updates and assembly-fit corrections during integration.
  • Packaging decisions to keep manipulator travel, alignment, and serviceability practical.

Build execution in 36 hours

  • Full scratch build: no prior CAD, no reused mechanism baseline.
  • Parallelized work: mechanism, electronics, and controls progressed at the same time.
  • End-to-end teleop stacking flow demonstrated.
  • Vertical climb was demonstrated during testing but blocked in the final (competition) run by a failed voltage regulator.

Results and engineering takeaways

  • Competition result: 2nd place (teleoperated category).
  • Reliable subsystems: alignment behavior, manipulator reachability, and operator flow.
  • Main blocker in finals: power-stage reliability under full-load demo conditions.
  • Key lesson: robust power hardware is a hard requirement for validating mechanical capability.

Validation Signals

  • End-to-end teleop stacking cycle demonstrated

    pass

  • Vertical DC motor climb

    partial

    Demonstrated during testing; blocked during competition run by failed voltage regulator.

Reproducibility Signals

  • Design intent documented

    Mechanism concept and subsystem responsibilities captured in project writeup.

  • Controls + telemetry architecture logged

    Controller and robot communication setup documented on Devpost.

  • Improvement plan defined

    Post-event next steps identified for climb reliability and curved-pipe support.